Tag: easy runs

Most weekends I do a longer run with my friend Mina and most weekends I find myself feeling like I’m holding her back, that if it were up to her she’d be running a little faster. Meanwhile, I feel the exact opposite: that if it were up to me, I’d be slogging along more slowly, at least for the first few miles.

During a recent Sunday, as I simultaneously struggled to hold us back and keep up, Mina told me how her weekday easy runs have been faster than they “should” be. In 7:40-7:50 range, her easy runs now are faster than my easy runs have ever been, even at my peak fitness, when I ran 6:34 pace for a half marathon in tropical weather. Back then 8:30s were truly easy and anything under 8:00 happened with intention.

But this isn’t anything new. All my running life, people who ran similar race times to me almost invariably ran their easy runs way faster than I did. Even after all these years, I’m still amazed how 30 seconds slower than half marathon pace can feel easy to someone, when two minutes slower is sometimes barely slow enough for me!

How do some people run their easy runs so fast, when others, like me, find they must run relatively very slow to keep their efforts easy? Read more >>

Ah, the easy run. In theory easy runs are so simple; just run, well, easy! But in practice they’re very difficult to get right. What exactly is “easy” when it comes to running, anyway? Is it a pace? An effort level? Is it an objective measurement? A subjective one?

Salty took care of explaining some of the basics in her post on easy runs. She explains why it’s important to run easy for: a) recovery from workouts and races; and b) building an aerobic base. I want to dive a little deeper into easy runs. Let’s explore more about not only why it’s important to get them right, but also how! Read more >>

Easy runs aren’t the sexiest topic. They don’t generally impress anyone. There’s no ego boost when you jump off the treadmill having never clicked the accelerate button more than a couple of times. Heck, sometimes you hardly break a sweat. The worst is when you’re behaving and running really easy and some dude comes up behind you breathing loudly and slobbering with his feet slapping on the ground as he passes you all proud of himself that he’s running faster than a chick … pushing a toddler in a stroller the day after she nailed mile repeats, but I digress. You know what? Forget that guy. Sometimes slower is better, no matter what the cost to the ego.

But is slower always better? Is there a proper easy pace and if so, how does one go about finding it? What does “conversational” pace mean? What if what someone says should be your easy run pace is hard or feels way too easy? What is easy!? Read more >>

When it comes to easy runs, this lady knows what she’s doing. Flickr Commons image by lightmatter.

So, the last time you heard from me, I preached the gospel of taking time for not running to improve your running. I’m not done suggesting counterintuitive stuff! Indeed, today I’m going to talk about running slower in order to race faster. What the heck?!

I used to be a consistent 21-22 minute 5k runner through college, eventually progressing to break 18:00 at the age of 26 and run 16:56 at 30. I made a lot of changes in order to achieve these improvements, but the one big thing that did not budge has been my easy day pace. I still run about 8:30-8:45 average on non-workout days. Yes, this is a full 3 minutes slower than 5k PR pace! Check out my training logs for proof. Read more >>

We here at Salty Running love to share our training strategies, opinions on all sorts of running stuff, and some of the strategies we think have helped or hurt our performance as runners and we especially love it when our readers have questions about this stuff! I’ve written in my training logs a bit about the changes I made to the Hanson’s Marathon Method training plan, which brings us to Mark from Indiana, who writes:

Jasmine,

Two questions:

I read in the Hansons Marathon Method that easy miles should not be run too easy, but should be anywhere from 1 min to 2 minutes slower than goal marathon pace. Do you agree with this recommendation?

You mentioned that you think that the paces in the Hansons Marathon Method require too large of a quantum leap from training to race day. Could you elaborate on that? What alternative did you implement into your training strategy?

In addition to my official running resoluion, my boyfriend James and I made an unofficial resolution to streak together. No, it wasn’t to see who could run naked the furthest without getting caught, although I guess nudity is an option!

Many streakers claim that they didn’t intend to start a streak, it kind of just happened. Then after a year or so of streaking it became a new challenge to see how long they could go without missing a day of running. My guy already has some street cred in that his longest streak is close to four years, set during the periods of high school and college. As of this writing, my current streak is at 37 days. Prior to that, my longest streak was 36 days.

And since streaking is on my mind, I’d like to share a few tips in case you decide you’d like to challenge the longest current streak in the United States, which is held by one Mark Covert, who has been running every calendar day for: Read more >>

With our tips and tricks running nowhere will get you everywhere. (Photo credit: maHidoodi)

I like the number 5. I was born in the 5th month. Some numerology b.s. says I’m a 5. My favorite posts are Friday 5’s. When it comes to treadmill runs, this number comes in very handy, very handy indeed! You see, if you follow my rule of 5 your treadmill run will fly by. Seriously! An hour on the mill will be over … just like that!

And how could that be? Because the run is broken down into 5:00 chunks. “But Salty,” I imagine you complaining, “even 5:00 can drag on a treadmill.” Ah yes! That is true. But I have that covered! Read on!

Welcome back to our Ask-A-Salty feature, where you ask us questions and we give you the answers. If you have a question for us you can send it to us by clicking on “Ask-A-Salty” above the banner or by clicking here.

The following question comes from one of our favorite readers, Cathryn:

In the past 18 months I’ve brought my half marathon PR down from 2.06 to 1.53, and I’m definitely faster than I was. However my usual running pace (i.e. when I’m not doing tempo work or purposefully including faster miles in my run) hasn’t really changed much – anywhere between 9.00 and 9.20 is about normal. This is a bit disheartening – I’m pleased as punch about my new PRs but I would love to be running faster on a daily basis without having to concentrate on it. Any thoughts?

Today we’re doing things a little differently. Cathyrn’s question about easy day pace is, well, not easy. In fact, her question sparked an interesting debate amongst us Salties. As a whole, we agreed that easy day pace varies from person to person but the variance in our responses called for a roundtable dicussion to answer her question. So instead of one Salty answering today’s question, we have many answers!

Every other Tuesday Salty Running will feature a post on training basics. Below are the basic training concepts that will be discussed in these posts with a definition of each. We will add to this glossary as new topics arise, so check back if you’re unsure what something means.

Intervals: Intervals are multiple stretches of running broken up with rest or easier running. Intervals are usually measured by distance. An example of an interval workout is 8 x 400 meters fast with 200 meter jogged rest in between.

Fartlek: (pronounced fart-lik) A fartlek is any run in which the pace varies throughout the run. Many runners define a fartlek as an interval workout in which the intervals are measured in time instead of distance. So an example of this would be 8 x 2:00 (two minutes) hard with 1:00 (one minute) jogged rest. However, a fartlek does not have to be measured at all–just a switch in tempo throughout a run.

Strides: Strides are short intervals (typically 20-30 seconds or about 80-150 meters) of controlled hard running with a longer break in-between. Strides are meant to prime them for harder workouts later in a training cycle. They may also be included in a training plan to loosen legs after a harder session the day before. They are also commonly used as part of a warm-up before a race or a hard run.

Tempo: Everyone seems to have their own definition of tempo run, but it almost always means a longer controlled continuous stretch of faster than easy running. Many training plans seem to favor half-marathon pace as tempo pace, but it can be anywhere from 10k-marathon pace. A typical tempo workout might be something like 20 minutes at current half-marathon pace within an hour run.

Progression Run: A progression run is easy to understand: it starts slow and ends fast, usually getting faster and faster as the run goes on. A sample progression run would be starting at easy pace and dropping the pace ten seconds a mile for 8 miles.

Long Run: A long run is, well, a long run! The actual length of a long run will depend on what you’re training for. For a veteran marathoner, a long run might be anything over 16. For a novice 5k runner, a long might be anything over 8. Long runs might sound pretty boring, but there is a lot of potential for excitement within a long run! They don’t have to be run at one pace and they can contain elements of the other types of training runs within them.

Easy Run: These are the bread and butter of most training weeks. These are the runs when you just go and run a nice conversational pace and finish feeling fresh (unless you’re in the throes of marathon training in August, but I digress).

RecoveryRun: Recovery runs are usually pretty short and run, if not shuffled at a very easy pace.